Hutchens, Frank

(bChristchurch, New Zealand, 15 Jan 1892; d Sydney, 18 Oct 1965). Australian educationist, composer and pianist. He was a pupil of Tobias Matthay and Frederick Corder at the RAM, where he won many awards both as pianist and composer, including the Thalberg Scholarship and Chappell Gold Medal. He was made an Associate in 1913 and a Fellow in 1930. After a recital tour of Britain and the USA he returned to Australia in 1915 and was appointed professor of piano at the NSW State Conservatorium. He was well known for his educational music programmes for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, and with his colleague Lindley Evans gave many piano duo recitals. For his services to Australian music education he was awarded an OBE in 1962. Probably his lasting contributions are over 60 piano pieces designed for educational purposes. Within a traditional tonal idiom, these are Impressionist miniatures exploring a wide variety of keyboard techniques.

Hutcheson, Ernest

(b Melbourne, 20 July 1871; dNew York, 9 Feb 1951). American pianist of Australian birth. He studied with Vogrich in Australia, then entered the Leipzig Conservatory as a student of Reinecke and Jadassohn, graduating with the Mozart prize. After further study with Stavenhagen, he toured the Continent and England, and went to the USA (1900) as head of the piano department of the Peabody Conservatory (Baltimore). He resigned (1912) to resume his concert career, appearing in recitals, with major orchestras and in a notable series of radio broadcasts. His playing was unpretentious but characterized by technical proficiency and intellectuality. Some critics also noted a lack of warmth and emotion but he was considered among the finest pianists of his generation. A respected teacher and administrator, he joined the Juilliard School piano faculty at its inception (1924), becoming dean (1927) and later president (1937–45). His compositions did not receive wide recognition.

WRITINGS

Hutcheson, Francis.

See Ireland, Francis.

Hutchings, Arthur (James Bramwell)

(bSunbury-on-Thames, 14 July 1906; d Exeter, 13 Nov 1989). English musicologist and composer. His musical education was not formal, but consisted of a thorough grounding in violin and piano playing, and as a chorister in church music. After a number of years spent teaching, studying and composing, he was appointed professor of music at Durham University in 1947. In 1953 he was awarded the doctorate for a thesis on Mozart’s piano concertos. In 1968 he left Durham to become the first professor of music at Exeter University; he retired in 1971.

Hutchings’s first articles on musical topics appeared in 1935; from then on he produced a constant stream of penetrating and often controversial articles and books. His The Invention and Composition of Music (1958) did much to improve attitudes to the academic study of composition. It is written, as are his other books, in an exuberant style, free from dogmatic echoes of the lecture hall. His 18th-century studies include the first substantial English-language study of the Baroque concerto (1961) and a lively survey of Mozart’s piano concertos (1948).

Hutchings’s compositions were mostly written before his teaching and writing activities became dominant. The Royal Arms, a comic opera to a libretto by C.A. Alington, then Dean of Durham, was written in 1949; another comic opera, Marriage à la Mode (based on Dryden), was produced in 1956. His largest sacred work is O quanta qualia, set for double chorus, brass band and orchestra.